Antelope Coal Mine

Antelope Coal Mine is fifty-five miles north of Douglas, Wyoming in the Powder River Basin. Rio Tinto Energy America acquired the mine in 1993 from Northern Energy Resource Company, a mining subsidiary of PacifiCorp. Antelope’s production has continued to increase each year for the last 20 years, and is permitted to mine 36 million tons of coal annually. Coal mined from Antelope is shipped primarily to Illinois, Oklahoma, Michigan, and Texas. The coal's average quality is 8,850 Btu subbituminous thermal coal.

In 2008 Rio Tinto spun the most significant of its Powder River Basin coal assets -- including the Antelope Coal Mine -- off into Cloud Peak Energy, a company in which Rio Tinto has a 48.3% stake.

In April 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management approved the sale of coal reserves in the Powder River Basin next to Cloud Peak Energy's Antelope Mine. Cloud Peak Energy Inc. wants to mine an additional 430 million tons of coal reserves at the surface mine. Groups questioning the Antelope mine expansion included the Sierra Club, WildEarth Guardians, Defenders of Wildlife, Clean Energy Action and the Powder River Basin Resource Council. All said the coal would contribute to climate change once burned, and that the BLM is not taking this into account when determining federal coal leasing.

In the record of decision for the Antelope mine, BLM officials said the options for limiting greenhouse emissions are better evaluated at power plants than at coal mines.

Cloud Peak Energy to ship more Powder River Basin coal to Asia
In June, 2011 Cloud Peak Energy signed a 10-year deal to ship basin coal to Asia from a port on Canada’s Pacific Coast. Cloud Peak Energy Inc. signed the deal with Westshore Terminals to ship coal through its Westshore Terminal in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company shipped 3.3 million tons of coal through the terminal to Asian customers in 2010. Cloud Energy operates the Antelope Coal Mine, Cordero Rojo Mine, Spring Creek Mine and Decker Mine in the Powder River Basin.

Mine Data

 * MSHA ID:	4801337
 * Operator:	Antelope Coal Company
 * Controller:	Cloud Peak Energy
 * Union:
 * County:	Converse
 * State:	WY
 * Latitude:	43.5
 * Longitude:	-105.17
 * 2007 Production (short tons):	34,474,682
 * Coal Type:	Bituminous
 * Mining Method:	Surface
 * Mine Status:	Active
 * Average No. of Employees:	 454

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Coal
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 * Coal phase-out
 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * Global list of coal mining companies and agencies
 * Headquarters of U.S. coal mining companies
 * Proposed coal mines
 * Rio Tinto's coal interests
 * U.S. coal politics

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